Sales of Snapchat's camera glasses are already slowing

Snap's camera-equipped sunglasses,
Spectacles, were launched with plenty of fanfare.

But after a little over half a year on the market, sales are
already slowing.

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In its Q2 earnings report on Thursday Snap revealed it had
generated $5.4 million in "other" revenue down from $8.3 million
in Q1. This revenue is almost entirely generated by the sale of
Spectacles. And since Spectacles sell for $130, that suggests
Snap sold about 41,500 pairs of glasses during the quarter.

That's about 35% less than the roughly 64,000 pairs it sold
in Q1, using the same math.

The slowing Spectacles sales raises questions about the
Snapchat parent company's efforts to transform itself into a
"camera" company, and it adds more uncertainty to the viability
of the broader market for wearable devices. Tech giants from
Google to Samsung have struggled to create a wearable gadget that
truly takes off among consumers.

Spectacles first hit the market in the Fall of 2016 and were
initially only sold in a few cities out of vending machines.
Earlier this year, the glasses became available to customers in
the US through Snap's website, but sales didn't take off like the
company had hoped.

TechCrunch reported in June of this year that a second
version of the glasses were in the works that would have
augmented reality features built in. It's unclear whether an
upgrade would entice consumers to purchase the glasses -
especially if the second version came with a higher price point.

The dip in Spectacles sales came as the company discussed a less
than stellar quarter. Its net loss grew to $443 million from $116
million last year, and the reported 173 million daily active
users fell below the 175 million that were expected. The report
send stock plunging as much as 17% in after hours trading on
Thursday.